Erie SeaWolves GM anxious for season to begin

Monday

Serving as team president and general manager of the Erie SeaWolves is enriching enough for John Frey.

But he wouldn't mind having a say in the sport at the high school level.

"The first thing I would love to see PIAA do is to play more games," Frey, 47, said when asked how high school baseball could be improved in northwestern Pennsylvania.

"I love the argument when I hear, 'Well, the weather is bad around here.' Well then, let them play more games."

A playfully appropriate plea from someone about to spend his 26th season in the minors and, unlike a player, not minding that fact one bit.

This season, which starts Thursday at Trenton, is Frey's 11th with the SeaWolves.

It hasn't really changed a whole lot. Now, I think as an organization we've changed a little bit.

We've become more focused on different areas of our operation. In other words, we have people who are specifically working on sponsorship sales. People who are specifically working in ticket sales. People who are specifically working in concessions. Those kind of things allowed us as an organization to make some steps forward, where in the past we might have all dabbled in everybody's area and crossed over. We've tried to narrow the focus so that the people who are doing those things can do those jobs better.

For me specifically, (the general manager's job) probably hasn't changed as much, but (specialization) has made my job a whole lot easier. When I have questions on ticket sales, sponsorship or concessions, I have very specific people to go to for answers and solve problems.

It's made my life easier in that sense, but overall, the job hasn't changed as much as the organization has changed.

I can't see it happening given the landscape right now.

I think revenue sharing in baseball has done more to level the playing field than the general public gives it credit. The (New York) Yankees won the World Series last season, but when was their last one before that? (Answer: 2000.) And they're the sore thumb sticking out in terms of spending.

Yeah, you still have the (Boston) Red Sox and the (Los Angeles) Angels, who are teams that spend significantly higher than most of the others. But if you look at payrolls now, you'll find a lot of teams in that $75 (million) to $100 million area.

I personally believe in making sure teams at the bottom spend a little more. You raise the bottom a little bit, I think you have more of an opportunity to bring in a true salary cap. Teams that are perennially bad, that don't spend enough money on player development and their players, they should be required to spend more.

(Frey cited Jeff Larish's grand slam against Akron in Game 2 of the 2007 Eastern League Southern Division playoff series.)

There were something like 2,500 people (2,476) here, and I was standing where I stand a lot, right in front of Section 207. When he hit the ball, I've got to tell you it was the loudest noise I'd ever heard at any of the games I've ever worked. It wasn't the biggest crowd, but they were into every pitch that entire game. It was all about baseball.

Maybe it was just me, but that moment was the loudest I can ever remember. I don't have a whole bunch of moments, but I'll always remember that one.

The high school season is coming up, and for my wife and I, it's kind of a bittersweet moment for us because high school baseball meant so much to us. We were so involved with both of our boys going through the program at McDowell.

We've lived in different areas (of the country). We were married in Texas, we lived in North Carolina, and then we moved here. That's how we made our friends, at baseball fields. That's how we met people.

So to kind of get to the end of the road is bittersweet, but it's great to watch (J.P.) go on to play college baseball.

If you look at overall attendance, people still go to baseball games more than football games. Now, that's a little unfair because there's 162 games in a season (for baseball) vs. 16 (for football). But baseball attendance is still on the rise, and going up after some rough years with the strikes and lockouts.

Baseball has learned that the experience at a ballpark is important. I'll go back to revenue sharing; we've had different World Series champions (since it was instituted). It hasn't been one team. Yes, there are certain teams that seem to have an in on the playoffs, but it's not just related to that.

Baseball is something that most of us grew up playing. Baseball has more of a love affair with it than the other sports. We seem to want to look back at baseball at the great pure times. Then we had the steroids era, and that's ruined it for some people. One of the things I hear on the radio is how baseball has this huge performance-enhancing drug problem, but somehow the stuff that happened in football is just not a big deal. And, oh, by the way, football doesn't test for HGH (human growth hormones).

That doesn't seem to be an issue with football, but it is with baseball. And part of that is, we had this love affair more deeply with baseball.

In the end, baseball is deeply American. It will continue to grow and come back.

-- Mike Copper

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